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32 Teams Remain

We achieved our goal of making it to the second weekend, now what? Only 32 teams remain from the first weekend and a large number of those already have one loss on their record. A Band Apart among them. It isn't the strongest position to be in, another loss and we go home. Our 3-1 record doesn't mean anything now, all that matters is the match in front of us. One fight at a time.

I have no idea how things will go this weekend. And I'm not stupid enough to pound my chest and make dumb claims about us winning this or that match. I've been around Eve long enough to know better than that. So much of the AT comes down to Rock, Paper Scissors luck. Land in the arena with the wrong comp match-up and watch your team disappear around you. Land in the right comp and have a fighting chance. The trick is to find that "right" comp against an invisible enemy. You can't plan for everything and bans mean you can't plan for anything. The good news, is that the other team is in the exact same boat.

Add to that the chance that the enemy burns out their webs. Or that their BS is actually DC'd. John Madden once said that a winning football team often comes down to which way the ball bounces for them. So far, the ball has been bouncing in our favor. Mostly. It didn't in our match against GMVA. And it might just decide to do that again.

So what is the answer? The only answer is hard work. Preparation, determination, practice and teamwork. Our team has excelled at all of those. We've put the time and the work into this run of ours and I could not be prouder of our pilots. Whatever happens this weekend I know we will give it the best that we have. What more could you ask for?

Our goal now is to win the Alliance Tournament. It is the same goal that the other 31 teams share. But it all comes down to the match in front of you. You have to win that one first.

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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE This Saturday, May 23rd, A Band Apart will be hosting their fifth Frigate Free For All (FFA) in Ouelletta, Verge Vendor, from 16:00-20:00 Eve time. 4,000 Frigates will be available for FREE to all participants in the Federal Navy Academy station at Planet V Moon V. “The free Frigates will be fit so that anyone, no matter their skill level or experience, can fly one and enjoy a fun environment of friendly combat,” said Rixx Javix, Executor of A Band Apart alliance and host of the event, “this is still Eve of course, but this is as safe of an environment as we can provide.” The last FFA saw 2,000 players take to space and resulted in over 45,000 explosions over the entire afternoon, “The red dot on the New Eden map was huge!”, Javix said. During the course of the event on Saturday special events will be announced in local, giving pilots a chance to score valuable kills and loot - all provided by pilots in ABA. “We have some special ships our pilots are planning on b…

On Saturday between the hours of 16:00 and 20:00 thousands of ships will be exploded in Ouelletta during the ABA Frigate Free for All. But why should you come to the event? This is your chance! Within the context of Eve the tables are often skewed against you. You know exactly what I am talking about. You're young, you like to focus on mining, industry, staying out of trouble...whatever it is you enjoy doing in Eve. This is your chance to let your hair down and have some pew pew fun. All with a minimum of risk. And while I'd be the last person to tell you it is going to be perfectly safe, within the normal context of Eve, the FFA is at least balanced in your favor. It is as close as you can get to a fair shake in this game. For a few hours you'll be on the field with other players in the same kind of ships, with the same kind of skills, doing the same kind of things. Nothing is "fair" in this universe, but this is as close as it can get for a brief moment in time. A…

On Saturday May 23rd, A Band Apart in association with Streamfleet, will be holding a FFA: Frigate Free For All in Ouelletta. Open to all players young and old, the FFA will feature 4,000 FREE Frigates to be handed out to participants during the four hours of the event, as well as very special event "events" to be announced in the coming weeks. Not to mention prizes!

"The FFA was terrific, This was the best time I ever had in eve." - Saki

These events are huge, you can see the results from our last one in that image above. But it is also the perfect place for any player, no matter what you do in-game or your experience level, to get a taste for PvP in as safe and friendly an environment that you can find in New Eden. The ships are FREE. All the fights will be between Frigates and we'll even have some places for you to get on bigger ship killmails along the way.

More details will be announced as we get closer to the date, but be sure to mark your calendars now …

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